Father and child sit together smiling while looking at a smart phone.

Want more recommendations for your family?

Sign up for our weekly newsletter for entertainment inspiration

Parents' Guide to

Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown

By Brian Costello, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 16+

Sequel with amateur acting, weak story, much MMA violence.

Movie NR 2011 104 minutes
Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 7+

Based on 2 parent reviews

age 3+

Great Movie For Kids!

Absolutely Wonderful! The movie teaches good morals, respectfulness and overall stability throughout your life. No rude scenes present despite the reviews and ultimately its a good, family friendly movie.

This title has:

Educational value
Great messages
Great role models
age 10+

Good movie, appropriate for most kids.

This film was really good, I watched it with my 9 year old kid, he really liked it, and he can stand most movies.

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (2 ):
Kids say (1 ):

If only the actors in this sequel had spent a little less time in the gym and more time in the Drama Club. If only the filmmakers spent less time on the fight scenes and more on the fundamentals of scriptwriting, character development, and conflict. If only the production values were less amateurish. Then maybe Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown could have been something entertaining for those who aren't superfans of MMA. But even then, probably not. Aside from the demographic fond of saying, "'Sup, brah?" in a nonironic fashion, it's hard to imagine anyone else seeing this as anything more than cheesy B movie fare.

While the dyed-black emo haircut of one of the characters is certainly dated, what's even more dated is the overall attitudes everyone has over the fact that the father of one of the lead characters has come out as gay after leaving his family. While the movie attempts to show that Mike isn't mad that his father is gay -- rather, he's mad that he left his family -- it's clear throughout that Mike is triggered by the shame he feels that his father is gay. This is one of at least five secondary stories that never really gets resolved. This won't matter to those who just want to see a lot of mixed martial arts, but it does severely limit any interest in this movie beyond those who are already fans of MMA.

Movie Details

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

See how we rate